Enabling AVB on Cisco Catalyst Switches

Supported Catalyst models

AVB is supported on select models of the following Catalyst series.

Catalyst 3650 Series	Catalyst 3850 Series	Catalyst 9300 Series	Catalyst 9500 Series
WS-C3650-24PDM WS-C3650-48FQM WS-C3650-8X24PD WS-C3650-8X24UQ WS-C3650-12X48FD WS-C3650-12X48UQ WS-C3650-12X48UR WS-C3650-12X48UZ	WS-C3850-12X48U WS-C3850-24XU WS-C3850-12XS WS-C3850-16XS WS-C3850-24XS WS-C3850-32XS WS-C3850-48XS	Supported on all models. C9300-24T C9300-48T C9300-24P C9300-48P C9300-24U C9300-48U C9300-48UN C9300-24UX C9300-48UXM Note: 9300-48UXM supports AVB on the first 16 ports (1–16) only.	C9500-12Q C9500-24Q C9500-16X C9500-40X

Catalyst 3650 and 3850 series switches have been certified by the Avnu Alliance, and are recommended for use with AVB. Avnu certification has not yet been obtained for the Catalyst 9300 and Catalyst 9500 series.

The following Cisco license levels are required for AVB support.

• ipbase or ipservices license level for Catalyst 3000 family.
• Network Advantage for Catalyst 9000 family.

The following Cisco IOS® XE Software release versions are required for AVB support.

• IOS XE Everest-16.6.4a for Catalyst 3000 family.
• IOS XE Fuji-16.9.1 for Catalyst 9000 family. 

Limitations

The following limitations apply when AVB is enabled. 

• AVB is not supported on stacked switches (StackWise).
• AVB is not supported on ports that are combined using link aggregation (EtherChannel). 
• Up to 200 streams are supported per switch.
• Catalyst 9300-48UXM supports AVB on the first 16 ports (1–16) only.
• Catalyst 9300 series does not support AVB on 100Mbps links. All Tesira devices are at least 1Gbps. 

Enabling AVB

Prerequisites:

• Cisco IOS XE Software with AVB support.
• Switches have appropriate license levels.
• User has access to CLI with configure permissions.
• Switches are not in stacking mode
• Interfaces are not configured for Etherchannel

Step 1 - Enable AVB feature

Enter the following commands to enable AVB and MVRP (automatic VLAN) on the switch. 

Command	Note
Switch> enable	Enable EXEC mode.
Switch# configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
Switch(config)# avb	Enable AVB.
Switch(config)# avb strict	Enable strict protocol compliance operation.
Switch(config)# mvrp global	Enter MVPR global configuration.
Switch(config)# vtp mode off	VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) can be configured for off or transparent mode operation.
Switch(config)# mvrp vlan create	Enable MVRP to create VLANs
Switch(config)# end	End global configuration mode and return to EXEC mode.
Switch# write memory	Save the switch configuration.

Automatic VLAN creation may not be preferred some environments. In these cases, VLAN 2 can be configured manually and MVRP not utilized. For further details, see the Cisco IOS XE command reference guide for configuring Audio Video Bridging.

 

Step 2 - Configure interfaces with AVB connections to VLAN trunk mode.

Any ports with AVB devices attached must be configured for VLAN trunking mode. The port must also not be administratively shutdown. The following commands show enabling trunk mode for interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1.

Command	Note
Switch> enable	Enable EXEC mode.
Switch# configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
Switch(config)# interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1	Enter interface configuration mode.
Switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk	Configure VLAN mode to trunk.
Switch(config-if)# no shutdown	Ensure the port is not administratively shut down.
Switch(config-if)# end	End configuration mode and return to EXEC mode.
Switch# write memory	Save switch configuration to memory.

Configuring port by port is time consuming. The following is an example for configuring all ports 1-36 using the interface range command:

Switch>enable
Switch#configure terminal
Switch(config)#interface range GigabitEthernet1/0/1 - 36
Switch(config-if-range)#switchport mode trunk
Switch(config-if-range)#no shutdown
Switch(config-if-range)#end
Switch#write memory
Switch#exit

The switch does not require a reboot. Connected AVB enabled end points will begin transmitting protocol messages within moments of configuring the switch. Many other specific configuration options are available for the AVB protocols. Please see the IOS XE command reference guides for further details. 

AVB status and monitoring commands

The following commands are used to view the status of AVB on the switch and for assisting with diagnosing issues. 

Command	Note
show avb domain	Shows a high level overview of AVB operation on the switch. Displays stream reservation domain active ports, gPTP neighbor delay and VLAN membership.
show avb stream	Displays a high level overview of all AVB streams advertised on the network.
show msrp streams brief	Provides a brief view of AVB streams on the network.
show msrp streams detail	Provides a detailed output of AVB streams and reservations on the network.
show msrp port bandwidth	Shows current stream reservation consumption on the switch ports.
show mvrp summary	Shows a summary of VLANs created automatically.
show mvrp interface	Displays interface specific MVRP details.
show ptp brief	Shows a brief overview of gPTP operation.
show ptp clock	Shows the current clock details.
show ptp parent	Shows details of the parent clock.
show platform software fed switch active ptp if-id {interface-id}	Detailed output of the gPTP operation of a port. Provides neighbor delay threshold and current measured neighbor delay.

Further reading

• Cisco Audio Video Bridging Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.x (Catalyst 3850 Switches)
• List of AVB-capable Ethernet switches
• Cisco.com AVB website
• Configuring 2-event (PoE+) Classification
• Extensive PoE Configuration details - C3850